Mary Abbott: Paintings, Collages, and Watercolors an exhibit of the artist’s exuberant oil paintings inspired by nature and painted in her signature gestural style will be on exhibit at Suffolk County Community College’s Lyceum Gallery on the Eastern Campus, Riverhead from September 4 to October 25. A reception will be held on Thursday, September 12 from 4 – 6 p.m. Refreshments will be served.
Throughout her life Abbott spent winters in Haiti and the Virgin Islands, and summers in Southampton, NY. Abbott’s experiences and a love of nature continue to influence her work. “Painting is like no other thing on earth. It’s its own thing, and all of painting is abstract, painting realistically is creating the abstraction of illusion. So really, one can be completely free, free from the object. I paint flowers because they have everything, color, form, light, arrangement on the page,” Abbott said.
Mary Lee Abbott was born in 1921 in New York City and attended weekend classes at The Art Students League at a young age.
Abbott moved into a Tenth St. studio in 1946, near Willem DeKooning, who became her mentor, along with other artists whose innovation created the Abstract Expressionist movement.
At the age of 27 Abbott participated “Subjects of the Artist,” an experimental school where she worked with painters Mark Rothko, Robert Motherwell, Clifford Still, and Barnett Newman. The experience solidified Abbott’s commitment to abstraction. Abbott’s work was included in the famed Stable Gallery’s annual exhibits which focused on Abstract Expressionism (1954, 1955, 1957). In 1956, Abbott’s work was included in the MOMA exhibit “Recent Drawings” and her work exhibited in New York City’s historic avant-garde galleries including Kootz (1952), Tabor de Nagy (1955), and Tanager (1950-55).
In 1958, Abbott collaborated with Abstract Expressionist poet Barbara Guest and created Abbott’s “Poetry Paintings.” Abbott taught at the University of Minnesota from 1974 to 1980, then returned to New York City.
In 2016, Abbott’s work was included in the landmark exhibit, “Women of Abstract Expressionism,” organized by the Denver Art Museum.
Mary resides in Southampton, NY where she continues to draw inspiration from nature.
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